Guide Hachette 2024

[smoore4]

In France, the Guide Hachette is considered one of the best references for wine. The ratings pages are very useful:





Happy New Year to BWEs everywhere!

Steve

[DavidG]

Looks like 2022 Bordeaux rouge is tops in their estimation. I'm too old for them but it will be interesting to see the in-the-bottle impressions.

Does Hachette taste blind? Are there particular critics for each region or do they use a committee rating system?

[smoore4]

Yes, 2022 is looking quite good!

Ratings are quite a process. You have to spend a fair amount of time reading the instructions on how to read the book because each review has a series of conventions that are pretty cryptic. But once you get past that it makes sense. It is not simplified, which is good imo.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guide_Hachette_des_Vins

The Guide Hachette des Vins is a French wine buying guide published by Hachette Livre (Hachette Pratique). Its first edition was released in 1985. It is France's best-selling wine guide and one of France's oldest. The Guide Hachette des Vins is considered to be France' most authoritative guide and commonly referred to as the bible of the French wine industry.

Blind tasting panels

The Guide Hachette uses blind tasting panels to evaluate wines by appellation. Each year 40,000 wines are tasted blind and rated by experts.
No fee is required to submit samples.[9] Only the most recently bottled vintage is allowed to be submitted for blind tasting.

Wine tastings are organized locally in each region between January and May. Blind tasting sessions composed of a panel wine professionals (enologists, wine merchants, wine brokers, sommeliers) are organized with the Syndicat Viticole or Winegrower's Syndicate of each appellation present in the guide.

Rating system

Each wine is rated on a scale of 0 to 5.
Taster's grade Wine Quality Final Wine Rating
0 Faulty wine Eliminated
1 Poor or mediocre Eliminated
2 Good Commended (no stars)
3 Excellent *
4 Remarkable **
5 Exceptional ***

The top rated wines are subject to a second round of blind tasting. After the second tasting, the panel votes on one or two wines to receive Coup de Coeur [Judges' Favorite]. The Coup de Coeur is considered to be the highest recommendation

[AlexR]

i have taken part in Guide Hachette tastings for years, so I'm kind of biased about them .

As opposed to one critic's opinion of a wine he has not tasted blind, 4-member juries are totally impartial.
Jurors are almost exclusively wine professionals

There is no way of knowing what the wines are (distinctive bottles are replaced). They are tasted, a preliminary score is given, then they are discussed. This discussion is valuable because it brings things to light others may not necessarily have seen. Scores are frequently increased or downgraded at this stage, but strong feelings need not be compromised, i.e. tasters can stick to their opinions.
An average score is calculated.

In fact, I'll be going to a Hachette tasting of Médoc and Haut-Médoc on the 24th at Ch. de Malleret.

The advantage of the Guide Hachette is that it includes multitudes of wine foreign wine critics never encounter.
If you live in Europe, you can order wines quite easily from producers, including from appellations that are hard to find.
The Guide Hachette is ultimately one of the better consumer guides.

Best regards,
Alex R.

[JCNorthway]

Alex, thanks for the explanation of how that guide works. And I can see it's value for "locals" who can order from wineries.

[Nicklasss]

Guide Hachette is probably the best and most serious reference for french wines analysis and rating. I like it a lot.

The only problem, many wines not available in Québec are rated in it. Also, it seems like every high reputation wines aren't analyzed/rated every vintage. But i might be wrong on that : maybe they are all analyzed, but many not reported.

[DavidG]

Thanks for the insight all.

[PerS]

2021 Bordeaux rouge is rated 18p. I never had any yet but this contradicts common knowledge of that vintage which sais it's clearly inferiour to 2019 and 2020.

[DavidK]

I'm a longtime fan of the Hachette Guide and have relied on it for over 30 years, with no disappointments. From my perspective, it's an essential reference.

[JimHow]

Looks like 2022 Bordeaux rouge is tops in their estimation. I'm too old for them but it will be interesting to see the in-the-bottle impressions.

--DavidG

lololoolol....